Nanlo (Hebei Sheng, China)

Nanlo (Nanlou), a county in southern Hopei (Hopeh) province (Hebei Sheng), China, with an area of 350 square miles and population estimated at 221,000 in 1950, was the location where mission work was begun in 1920 by the General Conference Mennonite Board of Missions. A primary school and an organized church established at Nanlo City, as well as ten or twelve regular preaching places in the country, were cared for by an evangelist, a schoolteacher, and a Bible woman, with the help of missionaries and itinerant workers. Mission buildings were occupied by the Japanese military forces in 1938 and the work was badly disrupted and forced to discontinue in 1942. The Chinese church nevertheless continued to be active.